Ferguson can expect fruitful end to season

JUDGING by Easter Monday's results it is time for Alex Ferguson to find some more mantelpiece space and invest in a new fridge.

Managing the league champions invariably brings the accolade of Manager of the Year and with it a trophy, £7,500 and, since the sponsors are Carling, more lager than Ferguson is ever likely to drink (though he can choose champagne instead).

There is another, more recent managerial award, one which is voted for by their peers. This one takes account of resources as well as results and has so far eluded the boss of the title winners. Instead it has rewarded managers who have prospered on more modest means - Dave Bassett, Joe Kinnear and Frank Clark.

On that basis Harry Redknapp must stand a good chance this season but so, for a change, should the two men whose teams are duelling for the championship, Ferguson and Kevin Keegan.

No one could suggest Keegan has been operating on modest resources, but he has built the most exciting team to watch in many years. Sadly for Newcastle supporters, it increasingly looks as if Keegan's citation will not, however, be for the manner in which his team won the title, but for the way he handled their losing of it.

There are not many managers who, faced with a second crushing last-minute defeat in five days, would have presented such a gracious face to the public. Many would not have presented any kind of face, especially not while the steam was still rising from his players' backs.

Keegan was candid and stoical after the Blackburn defeat. There are some who would prefer him to be cursing and snarling, but it was crystal clear that defeat hurt, that he was only just keeping his emotions in check.

Keegan virtually admitted on Monday night that the title was lost when he began talking about coming second. That may indeed spell the end for Newcastle for, if the great motivator does not believe it is still possible, how can he convince his players? Yet, as Keegan recognised, Newcastle, despite their loss of form, would still be top if it were not for Manchester United's remarkable recent run.

That they have done so well in what is supposed to be a transitional season is a tribute to Ferguson's judgement and man management. He has proved he was right to sell Mark Hughes and Paul Ince, and that he could over-come the departure of Andrei Kanchelskis. He has coaxed a young side to within reach of a significant triumph, for they are only likely to get better.

He has also helped Eric Cantona reform himself. The Frenchman is making one of those late runs for an award himself, the Footballer of the Year. His goals have made the difference in each of Manchester United's last six League games, five of which have been won, one drawn. They have included stunning volleys, like the one against Arsenal, and tap-ins, as against Coventry.

Yet, while he has stayed out of trouble since his return, he appears dismissive of the wider responsibilities of his stardom when set against Ruud Gull it's example. The Dutchman has given press and public new insights into the game and, while he will not win a medal this year, think what he could have achieved with Manchester United.

This vote will, however, go to a player who has both made a significant contribution to Manchester United's success and is not scripted by Nike: Peter Schmeichel. If he played for Newcastle, they would still be top.

Soccer hardman Vinnie Jones, whose professional career includes a string of red cards and a suspension for biting a journalist's nose, will represent English football at a seminar on "Sport, Tolerance and Fair Play" in Amsterdam tomorrow.

Jones, who has been docked more than £26,000 in three years for breaches of soccer's code of discipline, is the skinhead Wimbledon defender dubbed "Psycho" because of his tactics on the field.

Now he intends putting his name to a Council of Europe declaration which the seminar organisers say is aimed at "promoting tolerance in sport to as broad a public as possible".

Also taking part in a day of discussions and a declaration-signing ceremony will be Dutch player Ruud Gullit - the man Jones lunged at during a game last St Stephen's Day, prompting the 11th dismissal of his career.

Jones was also fined £2,000 in February by the FA for a scathing newspaper attack on Gullit and foreign players in general.

A spokesman for the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe confirmed last night that Jones had accepted an invitation to help promote sporting fair play.

Jones, who has also played for Wales - and was sent off in a game against Georgia last year - was fined £20,000 by the FA in 1992 for faking part in Soccer's Hard Men, a video of on-field dirty tricks,

"He was invited because he is a symbol of soccer," explained the spokesman.

Also present, but only on film, will be Eric Cantona. He is taking part in a programme called "European Sports Night", which, says the Council of Europe, shows how things can go wrong and what can be done about it.

The Amsterdam gathering, which also brings in celebrities from other sports, is a follow-up to a conference of European sports ministers last May which appealed for an end to violence in stadiums and on the field.

A Resolution stated that "well-known teams and sports stars have a particular responsibility because they represent role models, especially for the young."